World junior attendance off to slow start in Buffalo, even for Canada and U.S. games
BUFFALO — Who needs tickets?
Apparently, everyone does at this year’s world junior hockey championship. The tournament, which struggled to fill NHL-size venues in Toronto and Montreal last year, is not off to a great start in Buffalo.
KeyBank Center, which has a capacity of more than 19,000, was about half full during Canada’s 4-2 win against Finland on Boxing Day. Later that night, attendance was so dismal that organizers closed off the 300 level for the U.S.-Denmark game and brought fans together in the lower bowls to give the illusion of a sold-out arena.
“I didn’t know really what to expect,” said Canada head coach Dominique Ducharme, who was focused on the support from the Canadian fans. “There was a lot of red jerseys. I think that the further the tournament moves on we’ll get more and more and more. We’re always happy to have Canadians behind us.”
Critics will say this is what happens when you don’t have the tournament in Canada, but that’s not necessarily true.
Toronto and Montreal, which split hosting duties for the 2015 and 2017 events, had difficulty filling the buildings last year. The Air Canada Centre was pock-mocked with empty seats throughout the preliminary round and the Bell Centre was not even close to a sell-out for a semi-final featuring Canada and Sweden.
Part of the problem is price. Just because you are holding an event in an NHL rink does not mean you can charge NHL prices. Tickets for Wednesday night’s game between Canada and Slovakia began at $30 US and went as high as $110 US, while Friday’s outdoor game between Canada and the United States at New Era Field — the home of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills — started at $55 US and reached $137 US.
As of Wednesday evening, there were thousands of seats still available.
While making the tournament more affordable might help, the bigger issue is exhaustion. This is basically the third time in the last four years that the same region of fans is being asked to pay NHL prices for a junior-level product that lacks a Connor McDavid or a Jack Eichel to make it worthwhile. Canada doesn’t even have a draft-eligible prospect — or someone from the nearby Maple Leafs — on the roster.
Maybe attendance will improve when the tournament moves to Vancouver and Victoria next year. If not, this could become a strictly made-for-TV event.
• Email: mtraikos@postmedia.com | Twitter: @Michael_Traikos